President Obama is reportedly about a week away from using his “pen and phone” to sign more executive orders, this time to make good on his longstanding threat – or promise (as you might see it) – to provide amnesty for illegal aliens who’ve been living in the United States without documented status for years.

“Before the end of the year, we’re going to take whatever lawful actions that I can take that I believe will improve the functioning of our immigration system,” Mr. Obama said during a news conference a day after last week’s midterm elections. “What I’m not going to do is just wait.”

Lawful? It is difficult, off the bat, to see how a president could lawfully make such a consequential decision – and most especially one regarding non-citizens – outside of the Constitutional framework and specifically without action by, umm, the lawmakers in Congress. But that is well understood. Here is what Obama says he will do: